September 14, 2016 at 3:30 PM - Bradley County Board of Education Special Called Board Meeting

Dr. Cash thanked the Board for allowing the Business and HR department to look at options for insurance.  She introduced Mrs. Sarah Crispin and she made the following recommendation to the Board. 

HealthSavings Consumer-Driven Health Plan (CDHP) with a Health Savings Account (HSA)

We are recommending that the Board of Education contribute to a Health Savings Account for each employee that elects the HealthSavings CDHP effective January 2017.  The employee only tier would receive an annual contribution of $1000.00 and all other tiers would receive $2000.00 in their Health Savings Account. 

The CDHP allows employees to pay a lower monthly premium but have a higher deductible.  The employee pays the full discounted network cost for all healthcare expenses, including pharmacy, until they meet their deductible, and then co-insurance applies.  Employees have a tax free health savings account (HAS) which can be used to cover their qualified medical expenses, including their deductible. 

The HSA is managed by PayFlex, a company selected and contracted by the state.  Employees can contribute pre-tax money to their health savings account to cover their qualified medical expenses, including their deductible.      

Annual enrollment is October 3 – 28, 2016, and we are anticipating employees to select different options for their 2017 plan year selection.  This is a viable option for our District to offer employer contributions to a health savings account to help offset the high deductible for the employee.  This allows for the employee to save monthly with lower premiums and have savings for healthcare expenses when needed.  Due to the inability of knowing which plan employees will choose has made it a guessing game for budgeting cost, but we are certain that the cost would be lower to the district if an employee selected the HealthSavings CDHP with HSA contributions versus the Partnership Promise PPO.